Monday, May 29, 2017

Thoroughly Modern
Millie, the first offering of the Goodspeed Opera House’s season, is
thoroughly and enormously entertaining.Possessed
of plucky performances and energetic and creative choreographer, the musical is
a lively and cheerful production.

The story, based on the 1967 movie of the
same name that starred Mary Tyler Moore, Julie Andrews, and Carol Channing, focuses
on Mille Dillmount, a young woman just off the bus from Salina, Kansas looking
to make her mark on New York City in 1922.A self-described modern woman, she is seeking to marry a would-be boss for
his money as opposed to love.Within
hours of hitting the streets of The Big Apple she, literally, bumps into Jimmy
Smith, a brash, opinionated young man who tells her to go back home. Their encounter
goes as well as oil and vinegar.Undeterred,
she checks into the Hotel Priscilla, an all-women’s hotel populated by aspiring
actresses, befriending one of them, Dorothy, a newcomer from California.Unbeknownst
to the residences the proprietress, Mrs. Meers, is running a white slavery ring,
along with her two Chinese henchmen, from the establishment.This sets into motion a series of frothy and frivolous
hijinks that culminates in love and justice.

Book writers Richard Morris and Dick
Scanlan have crafted fully developed characters, along with a wholesomely silly
plot, as they send up the jazz age with madcap delight.Their non-stereotypical portrayals of the Asian
lackeys give the show a less distasteful sheen.

The score by Jeanine Tesori and Dick
Scanlan is always highly satisfying and tuneful, encompassing a number of
different musical and rhythmic styles. There
are upbeat and jaunty tunes such as the title number and “Forget About the Boy;”
the comedic gem, “They Don’t Know;” and yearning ballads that include “What Do
I Need With Love” and “Jimmy.”

The cast, which exudes a youthful
exuberance, is spirited, spunky and talented.They are led by Taylor Quick as Millie Dillmount, a take charge woman
who succumbs to the call of love over money.She is high-spirited and fearless with a marvelous voice and dancing
prowess to match.Dan DeLuca has a
winning bon vivant swagger as the loveable, carefree womanizer Jimmy Smith who
inevitably falls for the dame.Samantha
Sturm is refined and daft as the wide-eyed, innocent Miss Dorothy Brown.In the role of Mrs. Meers, Loretta Ables
Sayre just about steals the show.The
theater veteran knows how to deliver a line or extend a scene to great comic
effect.Lucia Spina’s Miss Peg Flannery has
a layered edge to her portrayal of the stern, matron of the steno pool with an
underlying heart-of-gold. Edward Watts is suitably pompous and strait-laced as
Millie’s boss Trevor Graydon III.Ramona
Keller has a knowing worldliness and down-to-earth manner as cabaret singer Muzzy
van Hossmere.James Seol (Ching Ho) and Christopher
Shin (Bun Foo) provide extra comic relief as Mrs. Meers’ less than menacing
gang.

Director/Choreographer Denis Jones is in
his element with this bubbly, buoyant show.As he demonstrated helming Goodspeed’s Holiday Inn two years ago (as well as its Broadway transfer this
season for which he is nominated for a Tony Award for Best Choreography) musicals
heavy on tap dancing and playfulness are his specialty.As choreographer, he incorporates many types
of dance routines into the production, but he excels when a full-throttled tap
number is called for in the musical.He
shows his inventiveness during the scene at the office of the Sincere Trust
Insurance Company when the office secretaries, seated at their manual
typewriters, tap up a storm while at the same time paying homage to Busby
Berkley movie musicals and Gilbert and Sullivan patter songs.

Director Jones keeps the pacing tight and
the humor in high gear. In his dual
role, he seamlessly melds scenes from one mode to another. He also imbues each
actor and actress with their own unique traits and mannerisms.

Saturday, May 27, 2017

Trump administrative policies, the Holocaust, and even the
television show “24” reverberate through the talkative, sporadically, absorbing
Off-Broadway play, Building the Wall.Playwright Robert Schenkkan, who penned the
Tony Award winning All the Way, that
focused on President Lyndon Johnson’s struggles to enact the 1964 Voting Rights
Act, once again addresses politics in his latest endeavor.

The time is the present.The stage is a starkly furnished room-- a simple metallic table, two
chairs and a water cooler--in some unnamed federal prison.There, Gloria, a History Professor (Tamara
Tunie) is preparing to interview a soon-to-be executed inmate, Rick (James
Badge Dale) about the catalyst for a crime that has not yet been revealed to
the audience.The conversation, a back
and forth, sometimes staccato-like question and answer, begins with the
prisoner’s background and then encompasses his beliefs and motivations.The exchanges conclude with, what turns out
to be, a horrific offense reminiscent of the atrocities of the Holocaust.

There are times when Building
the Wall can be thought-provoking and provocative but, for the most part, the
dialogue is stilted and too studied.The
dramatic arc only becomes evident at the end of the production.At first, based on the title, the audience
may think the prisoner is some evil, malevolent individual steeped in the partisan
and highly charged rhetoric of the Trump administration.But as the 85 minute, intermission-less show
progresses you realize this is simply a misled individual with confused morals
caught up within a failed system that could have taken place anytime within the
past 15-20 years.His defenseless rationale
dredges up the “only following orders” mantra from the Nuremburg Trials.

Schenkkan’s approach gives the show a meandering pace.There is not a direct road map in Gloria’s
line of inquiry.It’s more like a
faculty member’s lecture that constantly darts off into tangential streams of
thought before circling back to the main point.We also do not understand the motivation or interest in the professor’s
presence.While not totally necessary,
the reasoning would add a better layer to our understanding.

Tamara Tunie is matter-of-fact as the cool and detached professor.
The all but emotional-less delivery
serves its purpose of having her be a somewhat dispassionate observer and
chronicler of Rick’s story, but it doesn’t allow for much nuance or shading to
the role.

James Badge Dale, as Rick, initially, comes across as a
menacing presence.But he convincingly
shifts his persona through the steady outpouring of justifications and
confessions to become more of a pathetic, misguided individual.His talk of shadowy government agents and
rogue contractors seem credible and almost…almost evokes some degree of
sympathy from the audience.

Director Ariel Edelson is moderately successful in presenting
a modicum of liveliness.There is not
much in, what is essentially, a question and answer format to break-up the sameness
of the play’s structure.He partitions the
proceedings with Rick’s frequent trips to the water cooler, but there is just
so much hydration one can take.Also, the
earlier half of the show’s rat-a-tat deliver and response comes across as
rather forced and unnatural.

Maybe it’s too early in the Trump Presidency to develop a
stage production that dramatically and effectively processes some aspects of his
policies, executive orders, legislative agenda, and his erratic and uncharacteristic
Presidential behavior.Building the Wall is a worthy, but
flawed attempt, playing at World Stages Off-Broadway.

Thursday, May 11, 2017

In this jam-packed Broadway season of 13
new musicals where glitz, style, and innovation seem the norm, it is comforting
to sit back and enjoy the more old-fashioned, yet still vibrant, musical Bandstand.The show has a well-conceived story, endearing characters, and the
always vigorous and original choreography of Andy Blankenbuehler.

Corey Cott and Laura Osnes and members of the cast of "Bandstand."

The libretto of the show follows a
traditional, conventional path.Returning World War II G.I. Donny Novitski (Corey Cott), a jazz piano
enthusiast, can’t find work.Still
despondent over the death of his best buddy during the fighting and without
luck finding a job tickling the ivories, he forms his own band, consisting of
war veterans, to compete in a coast-to-coast music contest.He convinces the wife of his former pal, Julia
Trojan (Laura Osnes), to be lead singer, and they take on the nightclub scene in
Cleveland by storm on their way to New York and the big-time.Will they win?Will he get the girl?It’s not as pat as you think.

Rob Taylor and Richard Oberacker’s book
of the show, while straightforward, seems fresh with a finely-honed cast of
characters.The backstories the two have
created for each performer enriches the plot without weighing down the flow and
pacing of the musical.They have
inserted bumps in the road, giving the story a more realistic ambiance.While there is an overall, feel-good quality
to the production, Taylor and Richard Oberacker deftly weave in the horrors of
war and the very real, debilitating problems returning servicemen face.This gives the musical more heft and
seriousness as opposed to, for example, the frothiness of an MGM movie musical.

Members of Broadway's "Bandstand."

The score by Richard Oberacker and Rob
Taylor pays homage to the jazzy music scene in post WWII America.There are crackling numbers for the newly
formed combo as well as heartrending songs that beautifully and achingly
portray a country moving forward from the personal traumas of war.All the actors play their own
instruments.The authenticity gives an
added vibrancy and passion to the production.

The cast boasts one of the largest group
of well-developed characters of any of the new Broadway musicals.The two leads, Corey Cott as Donny Novitski,
and Laura Osnes as Julia Trojan, are a winning and appealing twosome.Cott, breaking free from the bon vivant role he
played in his last Broadway role in the musical Gigi, is intense and earnest, giving his character multi-layered
levels of emotions and feelings from rage to desperation to guilt to
compassion.You feel his angst and
silently hope for his triumph.He is
well-paired with Ms. Osnes who starts off as a withdrawn, bitter war widow, but
gradually gains new-found confidence to succeed as a singer and a person in
love.The actress, a waif of a woman,
has a powerhouse vocal delivery and a radiance to light up any stage.

Director-Choreographer Andy
Blankenbuehler, once again, demonstrates why he is one of the most innovative
and creative forces on Broadway.No one
has a better feel for the movement of actors, whether on stage or moving them to
and from the performing space.There is
a raw elegance to the way he positions and maneuvers the cast and ensemble
members.Individuals don’t just walk out
front, but do so in a stylized fashion.The simple undertaking of moving an upright piano on stage, for example,
becomes an abstract representation of the pain and hardship the musicians face.

Bandstand, an old-time story
accentuated with dynamism and inspiration.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Stagecraft wizardry is on full display in
the whimsical, and wholly satisfying Broadway musical Groundhog Day, based on the movie of the same name.The question going into the theater was how
the creative team would negotiate the endless loop of that certain February
date being relived over and over.Well,
the artisans found a creative and inventive way to bring the story to life that
echoes the humor and poignancy of the film.

Andy Karl and members of the cast of "Groundhog Day."

The story by Danny Rubin, the screenwriter
for the movie, centers on Phil Connors (Andy Karl), a self-absorbed
Pennsylvania weatherman who, year in and year out, is assigned to cover the irrelevant
festivities surrounding whether the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil will see his
shadow or not, which folklore states will predict six more weeks of winter or
not.On this occasion, a snowstorm traps
Connors; his associate producer, Rita Hanson (Barrett Doss); and their cameraman
in the small town. When he awakes the following morning in his well-worn bed
and breakfast the events of the day, and the townsfolk he interacts with, begin
to play out exactly like the previous day.As does the next day.And the
next.And the next.The amount of days is never revealed, but
suffice it to say there are enough weeks (months?) for Connors to learn to recite
French poetry fluently and to learn to play the piano.As time wears on, the shallow forecaster
becomes more sanguine, agreeable, and even courteous.His overtly flirtatious attempts to seduce Hanson
become less blatant as the two settle into a genuine, caring relationship when
suddenly and inexplicitly a new day dawns.A new chapter begins.

Barrett Doss and Andy Karl from "Groundhog Day"

The cast is led by Andy Karl as Phil
Connors.The actor, a Broadway favorite
that has appeared in many productions over the last few years (The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Rocky, On the 20th
Century), finally gets to sink his teeth into a leading role in a hit
show.He is a charming, handsome cad
that delightfully transforms from a chauvinistic rascal to a thoughtful, considerate
gentleman.Karl’s enthusiasm in the role
is palatable and infectious. Even a torn
ACL before the show’s opening couldn’t stop him from bounding around the stage.Barrett Doss as his love interest, Rita
Hanson, brings a professional demeanor to her role.She is independent, yet vulnerable as she
tries to make her mark in a sexist world.The chemistry between the two performers is not very strong, which does
undercut the musical’s focus on their love interest. Notable members of the supporting cast include
John Sanders as the loveable, rather insistent insurance agent Ned Ryerson and Rebecca
Faulkenberry as the misunderstood, somewhat gullible town beauty, Nancy.

The score by Tim Minchin, who performed
the same duties on the hit musical Matilda
a few years back, is not as tuneful or noteworthy.The songs work well within the musical, but only
sporadically burst forth into the quirkiness and humor the show calls for.

The cast of "Groundhog Day."

Director Matthew Warchus, who has helmed
such diverse productions as Matilda, God
of Carnage and Boeing-Boeing,
demonstrates his stagecraft expertise by successfully guiding all the varied
components into a cohesive whole.He is
able to deftly make the replays of Pux’s everyday world seem fluid without
becoming monotonous.He cleverly weaves
in some inspired lunacy as with the scenes where Phil Connors learns to play
the piano and with his suicidal moments and timed-to-the-minute lifesaving
episodes.Together, along with some
fancy sleight-of-hand, they all create theatrical magic.

Rob Howell’s Scenic Design is
superb.The various sets are imaginative
and resourceful and, as in the coupling and uncoupling of the structural
sections for the bed and breakfast, a mechanic tour de force.He also shows his artistic inventiveness with
the Act I car chase, the highlight of the production.When coupled with Hugh Vanstone’s Lighting
Design, the absurd daydream quality of the show becomes magnified.

Groundhog Day, the dazzling
absurdity of the film brought winningly to the Broadway musical stage.